Frederick Douglass Literacy

Picture this going through life without the ability to read or write. Without these abilities, it is impossible for a person to be a functioning member of society. In addition, imagine that someone is purposely limiting your knowledge to keep a leash on your independence. Not only is an American slave raised without skills in literacy, he cannot be taught to read unless someone breaks the law. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the reader is given a detailed explanation of why slave masters keep their slaves ignorant and the effects such a strategy has on the slaves’ lives. In his autobiography, Douglass describes how the knowledge he obtains has substantial positive and negative effects on his psyche. He is given renewed passion and hope for freedom while struggling with the burden of enlightenment of his situation. Ultimately, however, education shapes his fate, and he achieves freedom and prominence as an advocate for abolition.

Frederick Douglass was very fortunate to have learned how to read. In his time if you were a slave and had no education you couldn’t escape to freedom. Frederick Douglass’s key to education was his mistress (155). At first she was very nice and was giving him the education he needed and wanted but then from the influence of her husband she became rotten and denied him the right to his education “My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband no, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by anyone else” (155). But then he was fortunate enough to get some boys around where he lived to continue teaching him “The plan which I adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these I could I could, I converted into teachers,

In the pre-Civil War plantations of the South, slaves were forbidden to read or write. In other words, they were forced to be ignorant and locked in mental darkness. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he writes in dept about his life as a slave in these plantations. After leaning the ABC's and learning to spell words consisting of three or four letters from Ms. Auld, Frederick Douglass illustrates how he secretly taught himself how to read and write using various strategies such as: Learning the letters on the timber at Durgin and Bailey's ship yard, getting lessons from the white boy's he met on the street, Webster's Spelling Book, and master

In "Learning to Read and Write" written by Frederick Douglass, he talks about his experience of teaching himself how to read and write as a slave boy living in Master Hugh's house where his mistress educated him. However, she was dictated by her husband and the instructions given to the slaves on how to read had to stop; in order for Douglass to teach himself, he obtained a book about slavery, The Columbian Orator and read the book every free second he had. Encouraged by the book, Douglass runs away to the north from his master for freedom. Douglass' main ideas include depravity, chattel, and an emancipation, which represents a moral corruption, the slave properties, and an act of freeing someone from slavery, respectively.

1. Douglass taught himself how to read and write. At first, Douglass’s mistress taught him how to read the alphabet before her husband prohibited her from doing this. After that he started to teach himself how to read by reading books and newspapers, and how to write by copying his little Master Thomas’s written in the spaces left in the copy-book when his mistress goes to the class meeting every monday afternoon. However his most successfully way of teaching himself how to read was to make friends with the white boys whom he met in the street. He bribes them with food to get them to teach him. He also learned how to read and understand the meaning of the name on the timber.

However, Mr. Auld ends the transaction, explaining to his wife that “...if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master” (Douglass 38). In sharing with his audience the words that enlightened him with the answer to freedom, readers begin to put the puzzle together, witnessing how clever Douglass was and how unintelligent Mr. Auld showed to be. Douglass’s use of the word nigger several times throughout the passage and once seen in this quote proves further that white slave owners saw themselves as the dominant figure and wanted to remain that way. Slave masters were frightened of the idea that slaves could learn to read and acquire knowledge, because every piece of knowledge came as an advantage. Mr. Auld proves his mindlessness when he hands

Many of his audience would expect Douglass to be a brave, courageous man; however, they have to understand that Douglass was a person like any other, and that the pain and suffering he had gone through to get his education. He also used to describe his mistress a “tender-hearted woman,” as a sympathy to show that there are people out there that are caring enough to educate him(1). However, the dark turn of event happened when his mistress became more crucial and punished her slaves, just like her husband. Douglass also explained that he does not feel any sympathy towards her anyways because he was a slave and he knew she would eventually mistreat him. After his mistress’ cruel transformation, he grew weary because when he is caught reading a newspaper, his mistress would be aggressive and snatch the newspaper away from Douglass so he could not read anymore (1). The most difficult time was when his master found out he was learning to read, he would punish him (2-3). Douglass wrote, “learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing,” knowing at the time that getting an education was far more difficult than he anticipated (3). Douglass would think learning to read was not worth the pain he was getting. He thought that getting an education would help him escape slavery, but after his beating, he realized that receiving one would mean he has to endure the hardship in

Throughout the works of Frederick Douglass there is a prominent contradiction referring to literacy. At times, Douglass regrets his education as it makes his slavery more difficult to tolerate. Additionally, his education opens them up to more abuse as Harriet Jacob asserts they were living in a "culture of silence" (Cutter 209). Thorough examination of Frederick Douglass’ writing reveals various paradoxes within his testimony regarding his literary education; while Douglass did benefit from his education in some way, in many other ways, it shattered his spirit and lead to a lifetime of abuse.

The first step in her downward course was in her ceasing to instruct me ” (101). As Frederick Douglass learned to read and write he kept discovering more about the world around him. It was like a veil was removed from his eyes and this made him angry. He emphasizes that “The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen from us our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery. I loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men” and continues saying that “I would at times feel that learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing. It had given me a view of my wretched condition, without the remedy. It opened my eyes to the horrible pit, but to no ladder upon which to get out”(103). Douglass is clearly

Fredrick Douglass lived a hazardous and adventures life, yet he accomplished a great reputation and was famous for his persuasive and an inspiring work. Living most of his life as a slave; Douglass eventually wrote Learning to Read and Write as well as many other literary works, and autobiographies like My Bondage and my Freedom and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. As a matter of fact, Scott’s reaction to Fredrick Douglass’s essay Learning to Read and Write about slavery is correct. Gaining knowledge was more of a curse than a blessing, leaving him with absolutely no cure. In addition to that, Douglass developed hatred toward his enslavers; likewise he developed suicidal thoughts, and became envious for his fellow slaves.

Auld, his new mistress, is what spurs him on his quest to learn how to read and write. As a result of this, Douglass discovers the secret to how the white man is able to enslave the black man (20). According to the words of Mr. Auld, "A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master - to do as he is told." (20). The very instant that Douglass hears his masters words, "(...)

Fredrick Douglass who started life as a slave on Master Hughes plantation was taught to write by his Mistress in the beginning. As time went on Douglass’ Master forbade his wife from teaching Douglass any more lessons. Douglass has often said, "My mistress, who had kindly commenced to instruct me, had, in compliance with advice and direction of her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by anyone else”. (403) Douglass was heartbroken as his Mistress’s ceased to teach him and his thirst for knowledge grew. When Douglass first became the Mistress’ slave, she treated him with respect, took care of him, and began to teach him the basics of education. After being told by Master Hughes to stop Douglass’s education the Mistress went above and beyond that order. Where she once would bring them newspapers to read together, she would now not let him anywhere near a newspaper for fear of her husband’s reprisal. Even through all this he still yearned to learn. In order to finish learning how to read Douglass constructed a plan. He planned to learn to read by making friends with

Frederick Douglass was born a slave but was determined not to die as one. Eventually, he realized that being literate was the key to being free. His quest to become literate was definitely not easy but with discipline, he was able to succeed in his goals. He wrote “Learning to Read and Write” as a way to chronicle his journey. The article details his obstacles and overcoming them, despite the odds. Frederick Douglass faced many barriers as he learned to read and write. He used a variety of strategies to overcome these hurdles in his pursuit of comprehension and script.

Additionally, Douglass illustrates that literacy is crucial in achieving the emancipation of slavery. Without being educated, slaves have to endure dehumanization and the control of their slaveholders. Although Mrs. Hugh no longer teaches him reading, he is still

In the same book Douglass stumbled upon a speech (which he called “mighty speeches”) by Sheridan about Catholic emancipation. It is within this text that Douglass was able to understand the travesty of slavery and the hatred he holds towards his “enslavers” and the “enslavers” of others. He felt that “learning to read had been a curse rather than a blessing”, and this caused him to contemplate life. After learning what the word “abolition” and “abolitionist” meant he decided to run away. Although this was his initial intention, he soon realized that he was too young and also did not know how to write. In order for him to successfully run away, he had to learn to write which he started by observing ship carpenters labeling pieces of wood that would be used on ships near a shipyard. After acquiring some basic writing skills, which he did by practicing on “fences, brick walls and ,pavement” , Douglass decided to copy down “italics in Webster’s Spelling book” until he learned how to write them without looking at the